52nd District Republican Representative Mark Ouimet Targeted For Recall

Let me just say for the record that I like 52nd District Michigan State House Republican Mark Ouimet. He’s a personable, warm and friendly man. Washtenaw County Democrats, led by Stu Dowty, then Chair, tried to derail Ouimet’s march to the State House by digging up dirt on Ouimet’s educational background (AnnArbor.com printed allegations that Ouimet’s MBA came from a diploma mill, but did not, of course, find out whether the allegations were true or not). The Washtenaw County Dems also alleged that Ouimet owed some $30,000 for per diems he’d been reimbursed for but should not have been. A later audit concluded Ouimet still owed about $15,000 to county taxpayers. Representative Ouimet promptly wrote a check for the money, unlike Ann Arbor County Commissioners and Democrats, Barbara Levin Bergman and Conan Smith, husband of Democratic State Senator Rebekah Warren and son of former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Alma Wheeler-Smith. Bergman and Conan Smith both still owe the taxpayers of Washtenaw County money for per diems they ought not to have charged taxpayers for, and both Democrats have flat out stolen the money by refusing to pay it back, unlike Republican Ouimet.

Mark Ouimet voted in favor of Michigan House 4214 that became P.A. 4, Michigan’s expanded Emergency Financial Manager Law. He also supports Governor Snyder’s proposed budget that replaces the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for Michigan’s poor working families with a $25 per child credit. In 2009, over 800,000 Michigan families took advantage of the EITC and the credit’s loss will mean that that hundreds of thousands of families that previously got refunds will, in future, end up with a tax burden.

Snyder is proving himself a positively Dickensian character with the help of Ouimet and a Republican-controlled Michigan Senate and House of Representatives. That may change, however. I am hoping that does change, despite the fact that, as a Washtenaw County Commissioner, Republican Ouimet acted with more honesty and integrity than the two Democrats who represent Ann Arbor, one of whom (Conan Smith) came out in favor of Snyder’s expanded EFM law. Democrat Conan Smith told AnnArbor.com on March 21, 2011, shortly after Snyder signed the EFM measure into law that, “We absolutely need it. When we have cities that are in crisis, they have to get some oversight….The fact of the matter is we were not utilizing the law and it needed to be utilized.”

Eclectablog, a savvy politics blog, reported on May 3, 2011 that “on the heels of the start of the recall effort against Rep. Al Pscholka, eight additional state Representatives in Michigan are now being targeted for recall.” One of those eight is Republican Marc Ouimet. “In at least half of these districts, individuals have stepped forward and agreed to file the required paperwork to begin the recall process, a step that is soon to be completed for the remaining districts,” the blogger writes.

This is a list of the eight targeted:

Like in Wisconsin, where according to an April 15, 2011 story in the Chicago Sun-Times, “opponents of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker were back at work…on recall efforts targeting Republican state senators who supported the new governor’s overhaul of public employee union rights,” Michigan efforts to recall Republican representatives will require a massive and coordinated effort. In Wisconsin, according to the Sun-Times, “organizers were using voter lists and other information to reach voters and encourage them to sign or circulate a recall petition. The strategy, is to target a different senator each day and saturate that district with calls. The phone bank is scheduled to continue seven days a week.”

A look at Ouimet’s campaign finance information reveals $500 donations from both Dr. Todd J. Roberts, former Superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools, and Republican Dr. Rob Steele, who ran against U.S. Representative John D. Dingell in 2010. Ouimet, like fellow suburban Ann Arbor Republican Rick Snyder, took in thousands from donors/ supporters of Ann Arbor’s Democratic mayor, John Hieftje, donors such as local developer Dennis Dahlmann, Del Dunbar who is Treasurer of the McKinley, Inc. Board of Directors, Miller Canfield attorney Paul Dimond, and Howard Cooper.

Will the Washtenaw County Democrats who voted for Ouimet at the same time they voted for Republican Rick Snyder feel enough anger, frustration and buyer’s remorse to recall the long-time Washtenaw County Commissioner-turned-state-representative? For any recall to go forward, 10,546 signatures would have to be gathered after petition language were approved.

Via email, 53rd District Democratic State Representative Jeff Irwin had to this say about the recall effort aginst his Republican colleagues: “Recall efforts are difficult and require considerable organization to be successful. I would almost always rather do something proactive, like a ballot initiative, than a recall. That’s because, when a group of people rally together to put in the massive work required to run a good campaign, it’s better to walk away with a lasting win like a permanent change in policy….I believe a recall would be unsuccessful. My judgement is that we’ve already started the 2012 campaign cycle and it would be most wise to focus on that.”